Maybe! It's Possible!

Well, I called Ronnie and asked him what he would do about the problematic picnic table and we could not quit laughing and making jokes about it. When we finally did quit laughing, my back was aching, of course, but I knew what to do, thanks to Ronnie.

But, just to tease y'all, I'm not going to tell you what color I will be painting it tomorrow. Will it be pink? Maybe. Will it be blue or red or a lovely lavender shade? It's possible. I will post the answer and show before and after pictures of it next year. So, in approximately twenty-four hours, you will find out what Ronnie would do, what I did and see the results of my poor painting skills.

Today has been a quiet day, so I took advantage of it and did more paperwork and as of right now—I am completely caught up with the end-of-the-year reports, thank you letters, etc.!

Late this afternoon, I went over to the Lodge to visit with Kinky and we ended up going on a fun, but short hike with The Friedmans. Then Kermit took me home, so I could write this and post it early, because tonight is New Year's Eve and Tony and I are going to do what we always do on every New Year's Eve—watch Lonesome Dove and then go to bed.

Y'all have a great New Year's Eve and Happy New Year!

The O. K. Corral is Okay!

Today has been pretty quiet—thank goodness, because today I spent most of my day doing the end-of-the-year paperwork, because I like to keep up with it, so I am not bombarded with it next year, which is only three days away.

Late this afternoon, around 3:30, after I had returned several phone calls, Tony and I went outside to do some work on our old picnic table that was literally falling apart, in my writing cabin's front yard, because during our lunch that we had with Carol a few days ago—we've decided to turn The Bunkhouse's front yard into a cowboy/cowgirl paradise. Tony suggested that we call it The O.K. Corral, which I loved, but immediately changed it to The Okay Corral, because it makes me laugh.

The Okay Corral is going to have a big natural rock fire ring in the middle of the yard, so we can start having campfires in it with Carol and all of our friends to enjoy, when we are not in Burn Ban mode and Tone is fixin' to start building an authentic chuck wagon box, which will be put under a roof, that we need to build, so he can start doing his delicious dutch oven cooking for us outside, which means coffee, beans, biscuits, cobblers, etc. and we are going to put in a horseshoe throwing pit for cowboys and a washer throwing pit for cowgirls and the best part about all of this—we will have the use of The (pink) Bunkhouse and my pretty, pink Princess Phone, that I love, that sweet Eileen gave to me and we will get to listen to his old country music and my music or who knows after Carol and I take our singing lessons at Club Ed in February—we might just sing, with me pickin' in the background!

Early this evening, after we had repaired the old picnic table, I suggested that I paint it pink to match my writing cabin and T. was totally against it, so we had one of my Libran discussions about it. "Tony, we can paint it pink and when we have our friends over for dinner—I can put a tablecloth over it, so no one will know..."

"Yeah right. It will be pink, too..." So tonight as I end my post, the question for everyone is, "What would Ronnie do?"

Y'all have a great evening! I'm fixin' to call Ronnie now!

Julie Andrews, Kinky Friedman And Roy Rogers!

Today has been great for three reasons. First, this morning Julie Andrews, a sweet, young dog found her fantastic, forever home which comes with two sweet, young boys to play with.

The second reason, is after we adopted out Julie Andrews, Kermit took Tony, Roy Rogers and me over to the Lodge to meet Kinky and The Friedmans and all of them liked him. And then late this afternoon, sweet Carol came over to meet Roy Rogers in person and Roy fell in love with her as she did with him and then we had a good visit with her. Okay, now let me do some catching up.

Early Christmas morning, Rick & Leisa came over to The Cabin to drink some coffee with us and help us get things ready, before June, Lisa, Eileen & Wayne, our super volunteers showed up to help us prepare our rescued dogs' Christmas dinner, paid for by June, Ellen and Eileen. Here is a picture I took of Rick, The Friendly Lighthouse Keeper, warming up his hands, by our pricey $10.00 ambient fireplace, while Roy-Boy Rogers took a short-lived power nap on his quilt.

After our fabulous volunteers arrived to help us—the party started and it was filled with non-stop laughter. Eileen kept all of us laughing with her hilarious, battery-powered, motion holiday cap and she also brought the dog's their dessert—holiday doggie cookies and Lisa brought us some delicious, peppermint cookies, from Trader Joe's, for us to munch on while we followed Tony's orders, preparing the meal and those cookies were delicious! Here is a picture I took of us inside The Cabin. Clockwise: June, Wayne, Lisa, Leisa, who you can't see, Rick, Eileen and Tone.

Then we went outside to serve a warm Christmas dinner to some of the greatest dogs in Texas and it was filled with laughter and a little unexpected excitement, which made it even more fun. 

While June was handing me two warmed dinner rolls to top off Rufus and Roxanne's filled up bowls, Lisa accidentally let Princess out of her pen and Princess took off and then Kermit and Tony took off after her and when Kermit and T. returned with her, he told us that she had run outside the entrance gate and when she saw Wilbur eating some corn, the gigantic wild hog, with a bad back leg, that we feed every morning when we feed the deer and turkeys outside our fence, she ran straight to him and jumped on his back and then jumped off and then he ran off into the woods to hide from her.

Several minutes later, while I was trying to keep Betty Rubble from eating George Clooney's Christmas Dinner—Rufus and Roxanne got out of their pen, because I had latched their gate, but had forgotten to tie their gate. Five minutes later they were back inside their pen—thanks to T. Then we had some uninvited four-legged visitors show up—Roy, Gabby, Little Jewford and Shalom. Here is a picture I took of them visiting with Eileen, Leisa and Wayne watching, before Kermit and Tone escorted them out of the rescue ranch—barely missing Shalom, the horse's back kick.

Because it was pretty chilly that morning, our great volunteers went home after feeding all of the dogs their Christmas Dinner, so they could go home to enjoy Christmas with their families and friends. Thank y'all so much for making Tone's and my Christmas and our dog's Christmas the best ever! 

After Tony and Rick cleaned the dog pens I fixed breakfast for Leisa, Rick, Tony and me and then Rick and I pulled out our guitars and picked and grinned for a while.

Around 2:45, the four of us jumped into Buttermilk and she took us over to Jim & Liz's beautiful Owl Hollow Ranch for their annual Christmas party, held in their beautiful, authentic 1880's bar, The Grey Goose Saloon and we had a wonderful time and then we came back home, visited for a while and then we adios-ed each other and went to bed, because we are old, except for Leisa. And that is about it for tonight, because I am fixin' to watch The 34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors with Roy, Toto and Mama.

Y'all have a great evening like we're fixin' to!

Tomorrow Night!

Y'all, I have so much to write about these past few days, but not tonight, because I am tired and must go to bed sooner than later, but I do promise that tomorrow night's post is going to be a big one filled with pictures of our beloved, rescued dog's Christmas Dinner.

This morning at sunrise, before Rick and Leisa came up to The Cabin to drink some coffee and eat breakfast with us, I went outside on the porch and saw the tail-end of the cold front leaving our rescue ranch, so I shot it. I hope that you like it as much as I do. Sweet dreams.

Y'all have a great evening and may the dog of your choice bless you!

P.S. Roy Rogers (-Simons), Mama and Toto are sleeping at my feet (pink boots) as I write this and it is a little bit crowded down there, while Belle Starr-Simons and Abbie are keeping T. company in his office. And today at lunch, with Carol in Kerrville, our Cowgirl Sisterhood has decided to take singing lessons together at Club ED. Life is good.

The Legend of Uncle Otho!

This morning I got up real early, because I was thinking about going with Tony to the Old Timer, in Medina, to drink coffee with him and his friends, but that all changed around 6:45, when I saw Carlton flashing, on top of the breakfast bar, to let me know that I had a new message.

When I pressed his button, I hear a woman say, "Hello, this is Rita, the head nurse on duty at the %#$@ Hospital, in San Antonio. I apologize for calling at 1:15, in the morning, but we have an emergency and we are hoping that you can help us. Please call me back as soon as you get this message."

So, I picked up the phone and punched in the phone number and then talked to Rita about a homeless man and his dog. The man needed to be admitted into the hospital, but they couldn't admit him, because of his little Shih-tzu, because dogs were not allowed there. "Does the man need serious medical attention?" I asked, as Tony waved goodbye to me and walked out the front door.

"No, but we need to treat him and he would only need to be here for a couple of days."

"Can any of your staff bring him to us" I asked.

"No, ma'am. With it being Christmas Eve and all..."

Then I ended our conversation with, "Rita, let me see what we can do. I will call you back in just a few minutes. Bye." Ten seconds later or 6:55, I knew what to do, so I picked up the phone and called Paul, our dear friend and volunteer, because he lives in Helotes, just outside of San Antone.

After I woke Paul up, I told him what was going on and asked him if he could go get the dog and bring it out to us, but he couldn't, because he was stuck at home babysitting their elderly dogs."Paul, I just got an idea. Could you give me the phone number of your veterinarian that you and Marty love? After Paul gave me the phone number of Dr. Thompson, at the La Cantera Vet, on Babcock and 1604, in San Antonio, I thanked him and told him that I'd call him back after I had spoken to Dr. Thompson. Then I punched in Dr. Thompson's number at her clinic, but the recorded message I got told me that the clinic was closed and would be open at 8:00. So, I called Rita back at the %#$@ Hospital.

"Hi, Rita. It's Nancy. Could one of y'all take the dog to a vet clinic in San Antone for us?

"Yes, I can drive the dog over there when my shift ends at 8:00 this morning.

That's great, because Paul told me about their great veterinarian at La Cantera Vet, on Babcock and 1604 might be able to help, but I have to wait to talk to Dr. Thompson about it, because they don't open up until 8:00. I'll call you as soon as I talk to Dr. Thompson. Wish me luck!" Then I paced The Cabin's floor until 7:55, before I decided to go ahead and call a little early, in hopes to see if someone would pick up the phone and I got lucky.

After telling the friendly receptionist the long story about the homeless man and his dog at the %#$@ Hospital and that Paul & Marty loved Dr. Thompson, the receptionist said, "Marty and Paul are great clients of ours and Dr. Thompson has just walked in. Please hold so I can tell her about this. Two minutes later she came back on the phone and said, "Yes, we can."

"Thank y'all so much. If the dog needs shots or any other medical attention please take care of it and we will pay for it or we will get Paul to come pay for it immediately and then we will reimburse them. After we had traded phone numbers etc. and I had given them Rita's phone number I thanked her and we adios-ed each other. Then I immediately phoned Rita and told her the great news and she was as thrilled as I was. "I will take the dog over there in fifteen minutes..." Then T. walked inside The Cabin as I hung up the phone. Then I told him all about my morning and thirty minutes later, the nice receptionist called me back to tell me that they had Under Dog and they had already given him his shots and wormed him.

This morning after a breakfast filled with laughter, Leisa took off for Kerrville to get some groceries at H-E-B, so we went outside to do the morning chores. Rick and I cleaned the dog pens while Tone fed all of the dogs and then we came back inside The Cabin to drink some more coffee. During our fun conversation Rick told us an interesting story. "Uncle Otho, lived up in North Texas with his brother Ward and sister Grace."

"Wait. You had an uncle named Otho?" I asked, while chuckling. "I've never heard that name before."

"Yes, I did and he and his brother and sister were hard working cotton farmers. They were poor, had no electricity and they used an outhouse. They plowed with mules. It was a hard life, but they loved their simple style of living and they never complained about it. But, one day after plowing a field, Uncle Otho removed the mule's harnesses and then he jumped up on the back of the mule and rode away without saying a word. He just left."

"Uncle Otho has left the building," I joked. "I mean the barn. You're kidding me?" I asked.

"No, I'm not. He rode into the barn one year later, on the date that he had left, unsaddled the same mule that he had left with, wearing the same overalls and flannel shirt and the boots that he had left in and then he went inside their farmhouse to eat and he never told them or anyone else why he had left, what he had done or why he had come back. Our family calls it the "Uncle Otho Mystery."

"I love this story, The legend of Uncle Otho," I said, before we burst out laughing.

Y'all have a great evening and Merry Christmas Uncle Otho where ever you are!

Dude

This morning, while having fun with Leisa and Rick we received some very sad news about our dear friend Carol, from her friend John who was on his way to El Paso.

Early this morning, Carol was leaving El Paso with Dude and another horse, heading to Arizona, when ten miles out of El Paso she hit some black ice, causing her to be in a horrific one car accident. Dude, the love of her life, died on impact and she was rushed to the hospital and her truck and trailer were totaled.

Except for some bruises, Carol was uninjured physically, so the hospital released her and the sheriff took her to a hotel, so she could wait for John to get there.

We spoke to Carol immediately after we heard the tragic news from John and she is heartbroken about Dude, as are we for her. We love you, Carol and we send you our heartfelt sympathies. Rest In Peace, Dude. You were a magnificent horse and Carol loved you more than anything on this planet.

I Love Roy Rogers!

Today has been a really great day for me. This morning while we were outside doing our morning chores, I was thinking about Walter, the 6-7 year-old yellow Lab that Tony rescued on Tuesday from the Kerrville pound and how excited I was about us picking him up today and that was when I decided to change Walter's name.

When we came inside The Cabin I called Susan at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic. After greetings I said, "Susan, I need to change Walter's name, again." She laughed.

"Okay. Let's see, first it was Jake, that Tony named him, then you changed it to Walter. What is his new name?"

"Roy! Roy Rogers!"

The moment that I met Roy, in the lobby, he instantly stole my heart. When we brought him home—all of our dogs loved him, too. And here are a couple of pictures that Tony took of Roy & me.

Rick and Leisa have just arrived, so that is it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening, like we're fixin' to!"

Thank You, Karen and 'Erb Cares And Alfredo! We Love Y'all!

Today has been wonderful, but due to some predicted thunderstorms I've got to keep it short tonight. This morning right after we finished our chores outside, the dogs outside cranked up to let us know that someone was at our gate, so we jumped into Kermit to go see who was almost here. And it turned out to be a friendly FedEx man delivering a package from out dear friends, up in Boston—Karen and 'Erb Cares.

When we returned to The Cabin I immediately opened up their "Cares package" and I nearly fainted. Sweet Karen had sent me a beautiful turquoise bracelet that she had made especially for me for my 60th birthday, along with a very generous donation that they had made to our beloved rescue ranch. "Thank you, Karen for making me the prettiest bracelet in Texas and New Mexico and thank you and 'Erb for helping support our Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch. We love y'all and hope that your holiday season is filled with joy and the best ever! And please note that I am wearing my treasured bracelet that you made for me, as I type this and please know that I might not ever take it off, even though the picture does not do it justice."

Okay, it is now starting to rain pretty hard outside, but not thundering outside yet, thank goodness, so I hope that I can finish writing this post tonight. 

Before T. and I took off for Kerrville to run several errands, we picked up our mail on 16 and once again I nearly fainted when I opened up Alfredo's Priority Mail package. He's the super nice man who recently purchased a signed copy of David Woo's print of Kinky with one of our beautiful pigs that recently passed away. 

Alfredo had sent T. & me and Kinky handmade holiday cards that he had made especially for us and they were so awesome, it touched my heart, so I teared up, because of the love that I felt from his lovely holiday cards. 

When we met up with Kinky and our mutual dear friends Sage & Dylan Ferrero and Big G (One of the Hill Country's favorite DJ's) for a laughter-filled lunch, in Kerrtown—Alfredo's card touched Kinky's heart too. When he saw all of the detail work that Alfredo had put into making his card to him. Seriously, I don't think Kink or us have ever received such heartfelt cards. 

Alfredo's card to Kinky was unbelievably beautiful, because Alfredo had even put real wire strings on the small guitar, etc. Here is a picture of the inside of Tone's and my card and the front of the card that he had made for Kinky. "Thank you, Alfredo! We love your customized cards and Kink has asked me to please tell you, "That he wants to meet you," and so do we! You are one extremely talented artist with a heart filled of love."

Okay, it is now starting to rumble outside, so I must go now to unplug everything in The Cabin and I am so glad that I got to finish this post.

Y'all have a great evening and thank y'all for sending us some much needed rain!

Happy Birthday To Susan Price! And Happy Birthday to Woody!

Tone and I want to wish our dear friends Susan Price and Woody Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday to Y'all. Happy Birthday to Y'all. Happy Birthday Dear Susan and Woody. Happy Birthday to Y'all! And many more...

We love you, Susan and Woody! May this be y'all's best birthday ever.

Toilet Paper!

Today has been fabulous. This morning after we did our chores outside, we adopted Little Sister aka Peggy, the darling little Chihuahua, to a lovely family!

Then, after an urgent phone call from Charity, at the Kerr County Animal Control, telling us about a beautiful, older yellow Lab that his time had run out and that today would be his last day in Texas, I told her to please hold him, because we would take him and she thanked us and said she would, so after telling Tony all about it—he grabbed my camera and then jumped into Buttermilk and off they went to the pound, so I could stay home to clean The Cabin, because our dear friends Leisa and Rick are coming up, from Port A., to visit us on Thursday, for a few days.

While I was cleaning up our master bathroom, with a plastic garden tub, I realized that we were nearly out of toilet paper, so I called Susan, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, "Hi, Susan. This is Nancy over at the rescue ranch. Is Tony there?"

"No, not yet. What's up?"

"Good. He's rescuing a Lab from the pound, that was going to be put down today and they should be there in just a few minutes. This dog needs to be neutered, shots, wormed and do anything else that he needs and I need to ask you a favor."

"Okay."

"When Tony gets there please ask him to pick up some toilet paper, because we are nearly out." Then I started laughing and so did Susan.

"Sure, I'll tell him..."

Forty-five minutes later, T. walked inside the trailer, I mean The Cabin, carrying a jumbo pack of Scott Super Soft toilet paper and I was thrilled beyond belief. "Did you take some pictures of the Lab for me?" I asked, because I had asked him to shoot him, because I've really been missing our old Thunder and was seriously thinking about adopting him—sight unseen.

"Yes, but I only got to take one picture of him, because your battery died and you're going to have to charge up the battery, before you can see him. It's not a great picture, because I only got his head..."

While my camera's battery was charging, Carol called me to invite us over for dinner tonight with Lorri and Jeff. "Jeff and Lorri are in Kerrville right now buying groceries for our dinner and they want to come see the rescue ranch, before y'all come over. And, Jeff told me to tell you to bring your guitar, so y'all can jam again..."

One hour later, Lorri and Jeff arrived at our rescue ranch. "Y'all come on inside, so we can show you how we have cheaply copy-catted Carol's ranch house. Before they had walked inside The Cabin—Mama had fallen deeply in love with Jeff and she wouldn't leave him alone—constantly begging for him to pet her.

Lorri and Jeff loved The Cabin and they really enjoyed getting a private viewing of T.'s Photography Hallway and they thought the bed that Tone made for us, after we got married, was absolutely awesome, as I do too.

Then I quickly plugged my guitar into my amp and Jeff sang us a song that he has written about me and it was so hilarious. Then he sang us a beautiful song, that he has recently written, that almost made me tear up.

Because they needed to get home, because their groceries were in the car, I gave them a quick tour of my writing cabin and they loved it too, but not as much as I do.

As soon as they had left, I came inside The Cabin and put the recharged battery back into my camera, so I could look at Walter, my soon-to-be, new forever friend and I teared up, because I know that Thunder has sent him to me. "Thank you, Thunder Bunder. I love you and I sure do miss you, girl."

Early this evening, Buttermilk took us over to Carol's ranch and we had so much fun with them tonight and our dinner that Carol, Lorri and Jeff prepared was absolutely delicious. During dinner Lorri started telling us about them going to Wolfmueller's Books today and what an awesome bookstore it was and meeting the friendly owners. "Those are our good friends Sandy & Jon, that we told you about, that we went out to Big Bend with in September," I said. "We love them and their bookstore is the best kept secret in Texas..."

After dinner, Jeff and I started pickin' and grinnin' again and I enjoyed playing with him so much, because he is a much better guitarist than me and playing with him has made me a better picker. "Thank you, Jeff Severson!"

Tomorrow Lorri and Jeff are leaving Carol's to go spend Christmas with her family in North Texas and hopefully tomorrow we can go to Kerrville to pick up Walter, so we can give him a forever home. And that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Jeff Severson Jam Session At Carol's Ranch Tonight!

Today has been so wonderful. This morning after we did our chores outside Tony went over to Sam's, his brother's and Stacie's house, in Medina, to help celebrate their son Zach's 13th birthday, while I stayed home to get some writing done.

Twenty minutes after T. was gone, Kinky came over to see The Cabin, because he has been on the road and he loved what we had done to improve our 1983 trailer, that I bought for only $7,000.00, back in  '95! "Kink, I have officially changed the name of our old trailer from Nellybelle to "The Cabin." You have the Lodge and now we have the Cabin. And look at our new fireplace that only cost me ten bucks." And that literally blew him out of the saddle, so to speak, while Neil Young was singing Harvest Moon on my iPod.

"Nance, I love this. It feels just like being inside a real cabin. I can't believe y'all did this..."

Early this evening, Buttermilk took T. and me over to Carol's ranch, so we could visit with Lorri and Jeff , her dear friends, which are now our friends too, who came to visit her all of the way from California.

I don't know if y'all remember my March 23, 2010 post about Jeff Severson, the famous, now retired NFL Safety who played for the Red Skins, the Oilers, the Broncos and the St. Louis Cardinals, who also played in two Super Bowls and who once opened for Willie Nelson at a private party for the Minnicks, at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth—we jammed tonight!

After we had a super fun visit with Carol, Lorri & Jeff out on Carol's deck, with her two beautiful dogs Scout and Jake, we went inside her beautiful ranch house, so Jeff and I could play some music together and I had a total blast, even though he is a much better guitarist than me. Tone took this picture of us pickin' and a grinnin' with Lorri and Carol, as Jeff sang some of his new songs that he has recently written, which were dynamite.

And that is about it for tonight, because my fingers are killing me, except for the great news we had this morning from Ian—"Queen Latifah is fitting in real well with Scooby Doo. She's definitely a keeper and we love her!..."

Y'all have a great evening! Happy Birthday, Zach. We love you!

Deaf Ears!

This evening as I write this, my music is softly playing, a fire is roaring in our new fireplace, the tiny white lights are sparkling, on our cheap Swedish Pine walls, Mama is in our bedroom sleeping on our bed, Belle Starr-Simons and Abbie are sound asleep in the two chairs in the big room, little Peggy is in Tony's arms or lap, watching TV in his office and my dear old friend Toto is under the kitchen table in his bed, next to my feet, occasionally passing gas-bombs in his sleep, inside The Cabin. Home sweet home.

Before I tell about my great day, I want to highly recommend to anyone who wishes they had a fireplace to purchase the DVD "Ambient Fire: The Ultimate Video Fireplace," because I am now addicted to it. When I told Kink about getting the DVD and loving it so much, he chuckled and then he said, "It has got to be better than watching TV." And I had to agree with him, as I heard his real wood burning fireplace crackle in the background.

This morning while Tony and I were outside doing our morning chores, Carlton was inside taking a very important phone call for me from Courtney. After our chores were done, when T. and I walked inside The Cabin the phone rang—it was Ian, "Hi, Nancy. This is Ian. Courtney and I wanted to know when it would be a good time for us to come out to get Queen Latifah?"

"Right now," I told Ian.

"Great! We're on our way now. Bye."

"Bye." Then I told Tony the great news about Ian and Courtney coming out, so Courtney could officially adopt The Queen and take her to her forever home with Ian and Scooby Doo and he was as thrilled about it as I was. Then I started preparing Latifah's adoption papers, so they wouldn't have to wait for me to fill them out when they got here.

Minutes later, because Ian likes to drive faster than a speeding bullet, just like his father Roger does—they arrived safely and they were wearing big smiles on their faces as they greeted us. After a short, but fun visit with them, outside The Cabin—they jumped in Ian's Jeep Cherokee and followed Kermit, Tony and me down to Queen Latifah's pen.

As we drove up to Dr. John's and Queen Latifah's pen, she already knew it was going to be her day, because she was jumping up and down with excitement. When Courtney handed Queen Latifah's new dog collar and leash, that she had bought, to Tony, so he could leash her up and bring her out of her pen, I said to Queen Latifah, "I told you we would find you a great forever home," But, if fell on deaf ears, because she was so anxious to get to Courtney's loving arms, so she could give her a kiss and it was so heartfelt I almost teared up.

Early this evening Kinky called me from the road and I told him all about Queen Latifah's super adoption and how happy we were for her and he loved hearing the news and that is about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening!

Twice In One Day! or N.D.E.!

Today has been too much fun. This morning while Tony, Ben and I were eating our breakfast the dogs started barking outside, so T. went outside and a few minutes later he walked back inside with a small package. "FedEx just delivered this for you. What is it?" I started laughing.

"Open it and find out," I laughed, as Ben and I watched Tone open up my package from Amazon.

"What in the world?" Tony said, somewhat amazed.

"It's a ten dollar DVD that I ordered a few days ago. It's the ultimate video fireplace," I said, before all of us burst out loud laughing. "Since we can't afford to have a fireplace and because The Cabin is an old trailer and it would be too dangerous. I bought it so I can pretend that we have a wood burning fireplace..." Then we started laughing again.

"Let's watch it," Ben suggested. So Tony loaded it into our DVD player and then Ben helped me pick the one we wanted to watch and when he pressed the play button—our television turned into a wood burning fireplace with the sounds of the wood burning and it was actually pretty cool, until Ben ran over to the television and acted like he was warming his hands, causing us to break into laughter, so Tony grabbed his camera and shot him and then he shot me warming up our hands.

After Ben and Tony had done their outdoor chores, T. and I jumped into Buttermilk and took off for Kerrville, because I needed to FedEx Alfredo the Kinky signed poster, pick up some guitar picks, grab some groceries from H-E-B and pick up Rio at Hoegemeyers and if I had known that T. and I were going to have two near death experiences—we would have never gone.

Our first N.D.E. happened halfway to Kerrville. We were on 16, doing the speed limit, when we saw a big pickup heading towards us, at a high speed, on his side of the road and then we watched in horror, as the truck swerved into our land heading straight into us and he was TEXTING, because we saw him holding his phone above the steering wheel. So, thinking fast, while I braced for impact and whispered a cuss word, Tone pulled Buttermilk off of the road—right before the man swerved back into his lane, barely missing us, as we hit a roadside reflector—knocking it to the ground. As T. and I sat inside Buttermilk, just a few yards away from a deep bar ditch, catching our breaths and relieved that the man hadn't killed us—the textor continued on down the road towards Medina.

By the time we had parked Buttermilk in front of our good friend, Stan Morris' "The Melody Corner" at 608-D Junction Highway, we were basically back to normal, so we went inside his beautiful music store, had a fun visit with him, before I purchased some pretty lavender guitar picks, because he was temporarily out of the pink ones that I like. Then we went to FedEx, Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic and H-E-B, while Tony sat in side Buttermilk with Rio. Then we started back home, when the next N.D.E. happened.

Right after we had gone over the pass, we see another big truck heading towards us, in the middle of the road, so Tone honked Buttermilk's horn and the driver quickly pulled back into his lane, thank goodness, because Tony could not swerve off of the road, because we would have fallen off into a creek, ten feet below us. 

When we arrived home safely, after T. had put Rio back into Martha Stewart's pen, Ben cooked us lunch and it was absolutely delicious. And the whole time we ate our lunch, we made jokes about the fireplace video, such as: "Be careful. Don't get to close to the flames, I smell smoke and we need to get a screen for our fireplace," etc.—we rescued a pretty, Pit Bull, that Kinky's and our friends delivered to us, after they had rescued her off of the road. Even thought she was skinny and hungry, she seemed to be okay, so Ben took her down to a small pen, so he could feed her and let her rest, while Tony took off in Buttermilk to get our mail. 

After we had read all of the beautiful holiday cards that our friends had sent to us I opened up a package from my dear friend Mari and was literally blown out of the saddle, because it was the "American Cowboy" magazine's January 2012 issue and Roy Rogers' picture was on the cover! And I loved reading the fabulous article about the King of the Cowboys, my hero. Thank you, Mari! I love it!

A little while later, another delivery truck drove into the rescue ranch to deliver a Christmas present to Tony and me from our dear friends Terry & Karen C. and we loved it, because it was a box of Harry & David—Royal Riviera Pears: America's Rarest and Finest! Thank you, Karen & Terry—they are absolutely delicious! Happy holidays!

And that is about it for tonight, as I sit at our kitchen table, listening to my music and the sound of the wood burning in our beautiful new fireplace, inside The Cabin. It just doesn't get any better than this. 

Y'all have a great evening!

An Early Christmas!

Today has been great. This morning at 7:45 I called Harley to do his popular radio show and it was a lot of fun. Harley's Pet of the Week was Little Sister, the adorable little Chihuahua four-month-old pup that we have since renamed Peggy, because she is the size of my pretty, pink Princess Phone, that Eileen gave to me a few weeks ago.

This morning when Ben walked inside The Cabin, his jaw dropped when he saw the wood on the walls of our old trailer. "Wow, this looks beautiful..." After he had admired our pretty Swedish pine walls he complimented us on our woodworking skills, then he started unpacking several bricks of  Miles of Chocolate and three homemade pies that he had baked for us, "Merry Christmas, y'all."

"Thank you, so much Ben," Tony and I replied. "We love the pies you make and of course your and Miles chocolate," Tony said."How much do we owe you for Sandy and Jon's brick of Miles of Chocolate?" I asked.

Ben shook his head sideways. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." Then we had a brief argument or what Libras like to call "discussion" about wanting to pay Ben for the brick of chocolate for the Wolfmuellers. Within two minutes we were all laughing and that's when we gave Ben our Christmas present to him—iTunes cards to buy more music.

Before the men went outside to do the chores I told Ben all about discovering Daddy Jim's Quality Meats, from Sandy and Jon and that we were grilling their rib eyes and that I was cooking the Reata Restaurant's famous Jalapeno Soup and then I warned him about me possibly needing him to help me with the soup. Then they went outside to work and I started gathering the ingredients for the soup recipe.

Then I did some paperwork for about an hour. When they walked inside the trailer I had already started preparing the fairly simple soup recipe and I'm proud to say that I only needed Ben to help me with the Cilantro.

While the soup simmered on the stove top, Tony went outside and started up our grill that we haven't used for at least six of seven months or longer and that's why I don't blame him for what happened ten minutes later.

Six minutes after T. had put our rib eyes on the grill to cook, we were inside catching up with each others news, with too much laughter involved, when Tony suddenly runs outside to the front porch. "What's that about?" I asked. "He isn't supposed to turn them for two more minutes." Ben started to laugh.

"The steaks are on fire," Ben casually says. "He's taking them off of the grill right now. I bet he forgot to turn the flame down." Then he and I go outside to check on the flaming-fire-damaged-steaks.

"The steaks are ready to eat," Tony says. "They're cooked on both sides, but this one is a little burnt, but not bad. I guess that I forgot to turn down the heat when I lit the grill." Then Ben and I teased T. about us not wanting to eat the burnt one, etc. and Tone was a good sport about it all, because he ate most of his blackened steak, while Ben and I washed down our crispy, crunchy steaks with our delicious Jalapeno soup. And, by the time we had finished our laughter-filled lunch, we had all agreed that Daddy Jim's rib eyes were juicy and delicious—even if they were burnt. So, T. and I decided, right then and there, that we will now only buy our meat from Daddy Jim's Quality Meats.

This afternoon, the three of us went to Kerrville to run several errands. First, we went to the Post Office and then we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books, so T. could buy me an expensive book, The Tao Of Willie:A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart, by Willie Nelson with Turk Pipkin, for my Christmas present, which Carol had turned me on to, which I love and spoke to my heart and the front jacket cover was signed by Willie and Turk signed the inside of the book!

When the three of us walked inside Wolfmueller's Books, Sandy and Jon greeted us from behind the counter. "Merry Christmas!" Tony said, as he handed the Miles of Chocolate brick to Jon.

"Y'all, Ben wouldn't let us pay for it, again," I said. "So, Merry Christmas from Ben, Tony and me." After they thanked us for the delicious chocolate, Jon excused himself, so he could go put it in their refrigerator and after we had a short, but fun visit with them, we headed to Herring Printing, the best printing shop in Kerrville.

When we walked inside Herring Printing, Joe Herring, our good friend who is an extremely talented and fabulous writer, columnist and published author, greeted us and we had a fun visit with him as he helped Tony and Ben load up Buttermilk. Then we headed back to the rescue ranch.

On our way back home, I called Carol to ask if we could swing by her ranch, so Ben could see her beautiful home and check out her kitchen, because I am thinking about doing a cheaper remodel version of her kitchen and she said, "Yes! I'm heading back to the ranch right now and I am at Upper Turtle Creek getting to get on 16."

"We're about five miles ahead of you," I told Carol. "We will wait at your gate. See you in a minute. Bye." A few minutes later we arrived at Carol's ranch and a few minutes later she showed up and we drove up to her house.

Even though we couldn't stay long to visit, we still had fun and when Ben saw Carol's beautiful kitchen, he said, "Do it, Nancy. You should definitely try to make y'all's trailer look like this."

Around 4:30, I went over to Kinky's Lodge, to get him to sign a David Woo, limited edition print, that Alfredo had bought on e-Bay, to help out our rescue ranch. It is the beautiful black and white picture of Kinky with Arnold, one of our beautiful pigs, that David Woo photographed for David's book about famous Texans and their pets. After Kinky signed it to Alfredo, in his office, he and I had a wonderful visit and caught up with each other's news. Here are a couple of pictures I took of Kinky signing the print to Alfredo, which I will FedEx tomorrow. "Thank you, Alfredo!"

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for us to get some rain! Tomorrow, Ben is grilling for us.

Daddy Jim's Quality Meats! or A Savvy Shopper!

Today has been a great day. The reason that I didn't post last night was because I was worn out, because I spent most of my day taking care of paperwork, which is totally caught up and late in the afternoon Trigger and I followed Tony and Buttermilk to Hondo, because we needed to get a repair estimate on Trigger's mirror and back door, because a buck ran into him the day after Thanksgiving day.

This afternoon Buttermilk took us to Kerrville so we could buy our rescue dogs their Christmas dinner, compliments of June, Ellen and Eileen, but before we went to H-E-B we stopped at Wolfmueller's Books to see our dear friends Sandy and Jon.

During our fun visit with them I said, "I am so happy, because earlier today I realized that we can start grilling outside again, because the burn ban has been lifted, because of the rain. So, Tony and I have decided not to have our traditional big, Christmas dinner instead we're going to cook steaks. We're fixin' to go to H-E-B when we leave here and while Tony is running around the store filling up our dog's cart, I'm going to get us some groceries and steaks."

"We only buy our meat at Daddy Jim's Quality Meats," Sandy said. "Shirley and Danny Applewhite own it and they are good friends of ours and we think they have the best meat and prices in Kerrville...y'all should really give them a try." Then Jon gave us directions to Daddy Jim's Quality Meats, "They are on Loop 534, on the right side, right after the VA Hospital and before the shutter store and tell them we sent y'all."

"We will." I said.

"Nancy," Sandy said. "Also, they sometimes sell fresh farm eggs and their homemade sausages are the best that we have ever eaten. You're going to love it. I promise."

After I had paid Sandy for another copy of my favorite book, The Art Of Racing In The Rain, I said, "You know that fabulous cookbook that y'all gave me for my birthday, A Cowboy in the Kitchen: Recipes from Reata and Texas West of the Pecos, I've written down all of the ingredients needed to make their delicious Cream of Jalapeno Soup, that we ate at the Reata, in Alpine." Then I pulled out my list to show her. "Tomorrow, when Ben is here, I am going to make it and serve it with our steaks for lunch and we're also having it on Christmas day, too. And I'm going to ask Ben to help me make it tomorrow, so I don't screw it up..."

Ten minutes later, after we had adios-ed our friends, Tony parked Buttermilk. Then we walked inside Daddy Jim's Quality Meats. "Hi!" I said, to a friendly woman standing behind the counter. "Are you Shirley?"

"Yes," the woman said, wondering how I knew her name.

"We're dear friends with Sandy and Jon Wolfmueller and they highly recommended you..." Then Danny came out of a back door and greeted us and then I told him about Sandy and Jon loving their meat. Ten minutes later Tony and I happily walked out of their store carrying two sacks of meat and we could not believe their lower prices and how much money we had saved. Then we went to H-E-B. with our shopping lists.

And I want to thank June, Ellen and Eileen for donating their $150.00 for our dog's 2011 Christmas dinner, because the bill for it was $147.74! Tony is a savvy shopper.

Well, that's about it for tonight, because my back is still aching from all of the laughing I did at Lisa's Luncheon for Ladies and at Wolfmueller's Books today and I'm dreading tomorrow, because Ben keeps me constantly laughing, but it is well worth it. So, tonight I'm going to plug in our little white holiday lights, that we will never take down, then sit on Mari's pink sheepskin and play my guitar until my fingers are killing me and then read a little and then go to bed.


P.S. Kinky's Hanukkah Tour is now over and he really enjoyed it and he arrived back at the ranch early this evening! And I am looking forward to visiting with him tomorrow.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for us to get some more rain!

Irish Coffee! or To Go To The Circus?

Today has been a great day. This morning after doing our outside chores I quickly got myself cleaned up, so I wouldn't be late to pick Carol up, so we could go to Lisa's "Luncheon for Ladies" at her home in Kerrville.

When we arrived at Lisa's and Chuck's home June, Ellen, Eileen and Kim were already there and the first thing we did, after we had admired and had petted Cassandra, their adorable 15 year old muttigree, was to follow Lisa to the kitchen, where everyone was laughing.

After howdies, Lisa poured us all a glass of champagne and then we formed a circle, so Lisa could make a toast, "Because, we deserve it!" 

"Because, we deserve it!" We happily echoed back. Then we all started clinking our glasses together and got to laughing, because our crystal glasses were dodging each other. "And, you're supposed to look a person directly in the eyes when you clink glasses with them," Lisa joked, even though it is true. So we all started laughing and decided to do it again by cutting-up and making funny faces at each other, as we stared into the eyes of the friend we were going to clink glasses with. It was so hilarious, that it made my back ache from laughing so much! 

Then Lisa made an announcement, "As you know, Eileen is Irish and when she was in Ireland a few months ago, they taught her the proper way the Irish make Irish coffee and she is now going to make us Irish coffee!"

As Eileen began warming up our mugs, the way the Irish do, she told us about the room temperature buttermilk on the counter, that must not be refrigerated, for at least sixteen hours before making real Irish coffee, so I shot her, Kim, Carol and June's hand with my camera.

Eileen's Irish coffee was a big hit, because everyone loved it, because it was absolutely delicious and here is Ellen's mugshot.

Then we went into the formal dining room and sat down, so Lisa could serve us our delicious lunch. The first course was one of the best salads that I've ever eaten. The main course was Lisa's gourmet chicken soup with warmed bread as a side, which we all begged her for the recipe. 

While we ate our tasty meal, Eileen, who could/should be a standup comedian, started telling us this funny story about this young woman who ran away and joined a circus and it I couldn't quit laughing, because she is such a great storyteller. 

A little later, after much teasing among friends and laughing, Eileen told us about the time a hurricane was headed for her small town in Mississippi and she and the authorities were the only ones who didn't evacuate the town. "Seriously, everybody left town, but us."

"Did they go to the circus?" I joked and it cracked Carol up, so much that she was literally shaking in her chair. 

When sisters Ellen and June, with the driest sense of humor, started talking about their new, beautiful, "Shoe String Ranch" and the outhouse, which they've creatively converted into a shrine to honor their nutty, dead aunt—everyone was rolling on the floor with laughter and that's when I knew that my back had had enough laughing, because it truly began to hurt. 

Chuck came home right before Lisa served us our dessert, so she invited him to join us at the table, to eat her more-than-delicious homemade bread pudding which was to die for, too.

After our laughter filled lunch, Chuck showed us their wine room, which was impressive, while Lisa cleaned up the kitchen. Then Lisa gave us a tour of their home.

When our super fun lunch ended we went into their living room and Chuck shot us. My fabulous, fun friends from left to right: Eileen, Lisa, Kim, June, Ellen, Carol and yours truly.

As I finish writing this I am sitting on my pink sheepskin that Mari gave to me and my back is feeling much better thank goodness. I want to thank Lisa for throwing the best "Luncheon for Ladies."

Y'all have a great evening, because like Lisa says, "We deserve it!" Goodbye Kim, have a safe trip to England!

My Light Project!

Yesterday was a great day and so was today. Yesterday morning, Eileen, Lisa, Della & Roy and Carol, our wonderful volunteers, came out and they walked all of our dogs for us and Tony and I loved it, but not as much as our dogs did! "Thank y'all!"

And while they were out here taking our dogs on fun walks, Paul delivered Rio, a handsome, 1 1/2 year old Yellow Lab mix, to us that we had rescued, because Paul & Marty's friend was dying of cancer, with not much time left and he had asked them to please help him find a home for his beloved, sweet dog before he passed away.

When Rio arrived here, he didn't know what to think and he seemed sad, so Tony put him in Martha Stewart's pen, because O. Henry, her roommate, had moved to Grand Prairie to live on a horse farm and she needed a roommate. Because Tony is so good at matching and pairing up dogs to live together, they became best friends fast and Rio seemed much happier.

This morning Eileen and Kim, another sweet South African woman we know, came out and walked our dogs, because Kim is leaving for England, this coming Tuesday and she wanted to get one more walk in with our super dogs before leaving. So while Tony fed our dogs and I cleaned their pens—they made several dogs real happy. "Thank y'all!"

Early this afternoon Patrick and Margaret came out to meet our dogs, because Patrick wanted to adopt a dog, so his dog would have a companion, because his old dog had recently died. Tony and I really enjoyed visiting with them, as we introduced them to our dogs and told them their stories.

When Patrick met Rio, we told him Rio's sad story and then Patrick started petting him and talking to him and Rio started wagging his tall and then Rio climbed up on the fence and kissed Patrick on the face, so Tony leashed up Rio, because Patrick wanted to take him for a walk to check him out. And by the time Tony had put Rio back in with Martha Stewart, he told us that he really liked Rio a lot, but he still wanted to check out the rest of our dogs.

Patrick also liked Walter Cronkite and after he had taken him on a walk, he told us that he had narrowed it down to Rio and Walter and that he wanted to go home and think about it, because he could not decide who would be the best companion for his dog, but he definitely wanted to adopt one of them and would get back to us within a few days and we totally understood, because they are both great dogs and they would be lucky to live with Patrick and Margaret.

Late this afternoon, Buttermilk took us over to Carol's ranch, because she had put up some Christmas lights inside her beautiful home and I wanted to copy-cat her decorating again, to see how she had strung them, so I could come home and string some up, too.

Needless to say, "I loved what she had done with her tiny, white lights and Tony liked them. So, after a fun visit with Carol, we came home and I started My Light Project, but not for long, because Tony wanted to help me and he ended up stringing them up for me and I love how it looks and Tone likes how they look.

Unfortunately, I've tried taking several pictures of them, but the flash doesn't show how magical it makes "Our Cabin" look and feel, but I will try tomorrow when there is more natural sunlight outside.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for rain for us, because it has been raining since 3:00!

Because of Scooby Doo!

Today has been great. Early this afternoon, Ian, the young man who adopted Scooby Doo from us, the son of our great friends, Patty and Roger, came out with Courtney, his new girlfriend, because she was interested in adopting one of our dogs and we had so much fun with them, while we showed them all of our dogs.

We first invited them inside The Cabin to show them Little Sister and Courtney liked Little Sister, our new, adorable 3 1/2 month-old Chihuahua, but she wanted a bigger dog. While we introduced them to our dogs outside, Ian told us that he was graduating from college, this month and we are so proud of him, as I am sure his parents are. Then Ian bragged about how cool Scooby Doo was and about how much he loved him.

When we were halfway done introducing them to our dogs, Courtney found her forever friend. It was love at first site for the two of them and it was Queen Latifah! "She's about two-years-old, sweet as she can be and one super, fine dog," Tony bragged. "Kim, our volunteer, visiting from South Africa, is absolutely wild about her, as are all of our super volunteers..."

After Tony took Queen Latifah out of her big pen that she shares with Dr. John, so they could meet each other—they instantly fell in love with each other, in front of Annie Oakley's pen as Courtney petted, shook hands with her, rubbed her belly and then took her for a short walk.

When they returned from their walk—they were one with each other. "I am so in love with Queen Latifah that I want to adopt her right now, but I can't take her right now, because of my new job and the long hours of training, but in ten days or less I will come out and get her," Courtney promised. "Can y'all please hold her for me, because I am so in love with this dog?"

And since it was so obvious that Queen Latifah loved Courtney just as much or more as Courtney loved her, we said, "Yes! Of course we can do that!"

When it was time for them to leave, Tony took Queen Latifah's leash, so he could return her to her pen and this beautiful, magnificent dog resisted somewhat, because she wanted to go home with Courtney now and after we had told her that she was going to be adopted by Courtney, sooner than later, the queen understood and she easily went back into her pen with no problem. And that literally made our day and it was all because of Scooby Doo.

Y'all have a great evening!

We're Done! or Cabin Fever!

Early this evening, after two days of hard work, Tony and I finally finished turning the big room into "The Cabin!" When Carol came by to see our cheaper-copy-cat version of her ranch house, she said, "OMG! I love it, y'all!..." And we love it, too.

During our fun visit with Carol this evening, I decided to change the name of our trailer. "I'm officially changing Nellybelle, the name of our old trailer, to The Cabin, because I feel like I am in a cabin when I am in here. And it will be funny, when I invite people to come up to our cabin and they see our old trailer and think, "That old woman is really crazy. It ain't a cabin, it's an ancient trailer..." And, here is what it now looks like inside our cozy cabin:

By the way, those three brown dots that you see on the ceiling, near the top right corner, on the picture above, must be orbs that I captured, because our ceiling is totally white and has no orbs, who knows, it might be our fun-loving poltergeist that has been playing with our clocks the past few days.

And that is about it for tonight, because I want to light a candle and sit and listen to Neil Young and enjoy our cozy, new cabin. I'm so lucky. He's starting to sing Harvest Moon, my favorite song, as I type this.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying that we get some more rain!

P.S. At 9:26, after discovering the three brown orbs I reshot the wall and it is gone. Hmmmmm....

We Saw The Wall!

Today has been great. This afternoon we decided to eat a late lunch at Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, before coming home. When we walked inside the crowded restaurant, Carol, Calvin's sweet wife, greeted us and then she said, "Y'all just missed seeing Eileen, June and Ellen..."

"Darn it," I said. "They told me that you have taken a portion of your wall to help our rescue ranch dogs get adopted and they told us that it was awesome."

"It's right over here," Carol said, as she pointed to it. So, Tony and I got up from our table to go see it and I about fainted, because Carol had put up a picture of everyone of our dogs, including their individual stories.

"I love it, Carol," I said. "It's so beautiful! I bet that it must have taken you days to print all of this up.

"I need some business cards, because a lot of people have been asking for one and nearly every one of our customers come over to look at the dogs..." A few minutes later, Calvin had our orders ready.

As we ate our delicious lunch, close to their closing time, Calvin came out of the kitchen and he and Carol started visiting with us and by the time we had finished eating lunch, Calvin gave us about thirty pounds of meat scraps to give to our dogs. "We love y'all," Calvin said. "If you want, I will save and freeze all of our leftover scraps of meat, from here on out and all you'll have to do is come by and pick them up."

I almost teared up, because that was so nice of him to offer to do that for our beautiful, rescued dogs and thinking of how much our dogs would enjoy eating the scraps for their treats, I said, "Yes! The dogs would love it and we love y'all..."

When we left Cal-Bob's Smoke Shack, we went to Home Depot to buy some more boards, or as Ronnie likes to call them, "sticks," because Tony and I love the way our new kitchen looks so much, we've decided to go ahead and do the big room, too and then our remodeling project will be finished and then we can start paying off our Home Depot charge card, as fast as we can.

Well, tomorrow Sandy and I have jury duty and I wish that I didn't, because now that I am all caught up with my paperwork I wanted to take tomorrow off, so we could get to working on the big room, putting up one board at a time, but thanks to M.I.R. it is not in the stars for me. But, the good news is—if they kick me out of the Court House, I can start on the big room tomorrow!

Y'all have a great evening and please keep praying that we get some more rain!

The Electric Horseman! or Rising Star!

Today has been a great day. Last night I went to bed around 8:00 and I didn't wake up until 8:00 this morning, so now I am caught up on my lost sleep and once again I feel great.

This morning after Tony and I did our outside chores, I spent most of the day working inside and I am proud to say that I am finally caught up with the rescue ranch's "first of the month" paperwork.

Even though it hasn't been an exciting day, I do feel good about being caught up with all of my work, because this coming Tuesday morning, thanks to M.I.R. (Mercury in retrograde.) I will be sitting inside the Kerr County Courthouse, no later than 8:45 for jury duty, along with my dear friend Sandy Wolfmueller.

Kinky called me, from Oklahoma City, this evening, because he is on the road, doing his Hanukkah Tour and he sounded great. He told me that he is really enjoying himself and having fun meeting all of his fans. Then we visited for a few minutes and mainly talked about his dogs, Sophie, Chumley and Winston and his last words to me before we adios-ed each other were, "I'll be in Tulsa tomorrow."

Kinky is so amazing to me, because he has no problem traveling from one city to another on his fourteen day, back-to-back, Hanukkah Tour. You couldn't pay me enough money to jump on and off planes for fourteen days in a row. Heck, Tone and I have vowed to never fly again and we mean it, because neither one of us likes to fly. So, I am glad that the very last time for us to ever fly again was with Kinky, in 2005, when we went with him to Las Vegas for an exciting, super fun-filled, three day vacation.

Last night, I received an e-mail from my friend Jim C., with a YouTube link to watch Greatest Card Trick Ever, so I clicked on it and I was shocked and could not believe my eyes, when the amazing Dave Cremin performed his impossible card trick in Times Square. It is only one and a half minutes long and I hope that you will check it out. Tonight I am watching Electric Horseman on Netflix, one of my most favorite movies.

Y'all have a great evening and thank you for praying for rain for us, because we are getting some right now!

Peggy! or Happy Trails!

It is 3:32 in the morning and for some reason I cannot go to sleep, so after tossing and turning in bed for over four and a half hours I decided to get up and make use of my time, because I know I will be exhausted for the rest of the day, because of lack of sleep, but the good news is it has been raining here since 6:00 last night.

Yesterday was a life changing day for me—for the good. In the morning, while our super volunteers: June, Ellen, Jim and Roy & Della were walking our dogs, Lisa took a break and came up to the trailer, so Tony and I could show off our new kitchen and she absolutely loved it and while we waited for Eileen to arrive, with my pretty, pink Princess Phone—we had a fun visit with her.

A few minutes later, when Mama started barking outside, we went outside to greet Eileen. "Nancy, I want to show you your Princess Phone. So, the three of us followed Eileen out to my cabin."I hope you don't mind, but I went inside and put it in here."

"Don't they call that trespassing, Tony?" I joked, before I opened the door to my cabin and nearly fainted when I saw my beautiful, pink Princess Phone.

"OMG! I love it, Eileen! It is so cute. Eileen, thank you so much." Then I picked it up and carried it to the lowered, second edition of my cabin and placed it on the antique school desk, that my dear friend aka extremely talented author friend, John Kemmerly, gave to me. "Eileen, this completes my writing cabin..."

"Thank you, Nancy. I am glad that you like it," Eileen said. "I love mine, too and mine is right next to my bed on an antique nightstand." Then she started laughing. "And there is no way Ronnie could build you one of these things..." 

When the four us had finally quit laughing Lisa says,"I'm going to get one for me. I love it. Who makes it?"

"Crosley: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow," Eileen told her.

Then I invited her to come into the trailer to see Tony's and my handy work and Eileen said, "I loved the tin in the kitchen, but this makes it feel like a cabin. It feels so cozy..."

An hour later after all of our dogs had enjoyed their fun walks down to the creek, June and Eileen came up to the trailer to check out our kitchen and they loved it and were beside themselves and then I was beside myself when they handed me the checks from them and Eileen to pay for our dogs Christmas dinner. "Thank y'all, so much for doing this for our dogs..." I said. "Now, y'all have got to come out to my cabin to see my Princess Phone that Eileen got for me. You're going to love it. I swear."

"Nancy, it is precious," June said, before Ellen entered the cabin, "I want one."

"Me, too! I love it," Ellen said, before all of us burst our laughing about all of us wanting one.

"I know!" I said. "Hey, we could start our own "Precious, Pink Princess Phone Club" and once a month we could do a five-way conference call, using our pink phones. Eileen, you giving me this phone has been a life changing minute for me and has made my day. I am going to call the telephone company and have them put a jack out here, so I can use it."

Eileen started chuckling at my remark. "Nancy, I wouldn't call it a life changing moment? That's too much."

"No, not a life changing moment," I said, "but a life changing minute, because it lasted for one whole minute." 

A little while later, while Tony and I ate a fun lunch with June, Ellen, Eileen and Kim, at Koyote, I said, "I've got to figure out what to name my Princess Phone." Then "The Girls" took turns coming up with some funny names to name my phone, such as Barbie, Pinkie, etc., but none of them were it. Then Eileen had us all laughing as she told us about her hilarious gag gift that she was going to make for someone special, but I can't tell y'all about it. 

After lunch, Buttermilk took us to Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic so we could pick up Little Sister and bring her home and on our way back home I came up with the perfect name for my Princess Telephone. "Tone, guess what I am going to name the Princess Phone?"

"What?"

"Peggy!" I said, before starting to laugh. "Hello, my name is Peggy," like that funny commercial on the TV." Tony burst out laughing.

Early this evening, we invited Carol to come over, so we could show her our new kitchen, do some more work on hers and my "Secret Project" and then finish it up with Happy Hour. When Carol arrived she blew-me-out-of-my-saddle, so to speak, because she had bought a book to give to me, Happy Trails: Our Life Story by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans with Jane and Michael Stern! "Carol, thank you so much for this book, I can't wait to read it. Today has been incredibly great. Earlier today Eileen gave me a pink Princess Phone, which I love and it made my day and now this—this is incredible...I told Eileen that her Princess telephone had made my cabin complete and that there was nothing more to add to it and now you give me this fantastic book and now it completes my cabin. I'm going to put it on desk, right next to my pink phone, which I've named Peggy." Carol started laughing.

When I had finally quit thanking Carol for her wonderful gift she said, "I love your kitchen. Wow. It feels like a cabin in here..." A few minutes later, we all went out to the cabin, so I could show her Peggy, which by-the-way—she loved, too. And we had a blast inside my cabin.

Well, it is now 5:14 AM, I am feeling very sleepy at last, it is still raining outside and Tony just woke up and his dog Belle just ran into the kitchen and pounced on me—nearly knocking me out of my chair. I just told T. about staying up all night and that I am fixin' to go to bed. But before I go to La-La Land, I want to thank all of our fabulous volunteers for coming out yesterday to walk all of our dogs and making me laugh and Eileen and Carol for completing my writing cabin. So instead of saying, "Good night" to all I'm saying, "Good morning and sweet dreams! Stop it, Belle. Tony!"

Y'all have a great morning, afternoon and evening and thank you for praying for our rain!